Our Neighbourhood, On the World Stage!

I would suggest that no city and no country has benefited from hosting the Olympics to the degree that Tokyo and Japan did in 1964. It was just as television was proliferating, and showed the world a modern Japan, no doubt influencing people's opinions when it came time to purchase Japanese-made products. 

This year's Olympics could easily be the least beneficial of all Olympics, but despite empty seats, they're going on. As you watch this video, the archery and aquatic venues (3:45-3:53) are a few hundred meters south of our apartment. 

 

Bullet Train Bentos Right In Our Neighbourhood

We used to look at this building from our previous apartment here in Shiohama. One of our families lives right across the road from this place! 
 

Have You Ever Seen a COVID Store?

This whole store sells only masks (and maybe some hand sanitizer, too) Masks in any style and price point to suit the discerning consumer! 

 

The High Cost of Housing

The turtles have had to double up because of high rent in our part ot Tokyo!

In our area, there are many parks located along streams that were once canals. The whole area was swampland in the Middle Ages and channels were dug as land was reclaimed. The canals were used for transporting heavy and bulky loads, so our area was once heavily industrial and has rapidly become residential as factories and warehouses moved out. 

 

Our Neighbourhood Yaoya!

 Two 2 ton trucks go to the food terminal in Tokyo early in the morning and get good deals on whatever they can get cheap, and then haul it all back to our neighbourhood. They set up this place and open at 1:30pm, and the locals come shopping. No guarantee they'll have green peppers or anything else you might be looking for in stock today. But, whatever they have is a real deal. The guy in the middle of the picture talks non-stop all day, welcoming people and shouting out the deals they have. A little of the old Japan persists, even in the midst of the big city with all the chain stores. 

Blue Lights

 

In an effort to keep you informed, I stole this article from a newsletter from Japan Mission (jm@japanmission.org if you'd like to subscribe)

  Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Leaping from a station platform into the path of an oncoming train has been a common choice. It is a brutal, disruptive end that can also wreak havoc across the transit system.

        Many stations have gone to great expense to install chest-high platform barriers to prevent such suicide attempts. Much is being done to speed up the process to install these barriers, but 70 percent of Japan's largest stations still do not have them.

        In the meantime, station operators have employed an alternative solution to save lives, by installing small square LED panels that emit a pleasant, deep-blue glow. Operating on the theory that exposure to blue light has a calming effect on one’s mood, rail stations in Japan began installing these LED panels as a suicide-prevention measure in 2009. They are strategically located at the ends of each platform — typically the most-isolated areas, and accordingly, the point from which most platform jumps occur.

        This approach has proven to be surprisingly effective. According to one study by researchers, data analyzed over a 10-year period showed an 84 percent decline in the number of suicide attempts at stations where blue lights were installed.